Veggies to Plant in Autumn

 Deadheading pelargoniums

The garden is very quiet.  We stopped feeding the birds a few weeks ago and they don’t hang around begging, they just fly to new pastures. The mice that accompanied the birds and picked up the leftover seed crumbs seem to have packed up and gone too, I haven’t seen one for ages. The same can’t be said for the neighbours though, I have heard a few complain they seem to be infested with the little fur balls. Fly my beauties, fly.

Deadheading annuals

Try as I might I never seem to get around to deadheading the annuals in containers. I’m sure if I did the display would last until the end of October. There’s just something a bit yukky about nipping the soggy petunia flowers from their stems and trying to flick them from your fingers. Geraniums are OK, I don’t mind pulling their old flower heads off and the plants certainly produce more flowers so they do get looked after a bit. The rest are left to their own devices for the year until the frost gets them.

Late Vegetable Planting

There is still time to plant late vegetables as the soil is still warm. Up until the end of October there is a good range that can be sown to supplement the leeks, parsnips and Brussels that will be maturing nicely.

Broad beans

Autumn-sown broad beans help to slow down nutrients leaching through otherwise fallow soil, which allows its structure to deteriorate. They are ready a good month earlier than those sown in April, and they don't get black fly. 

Asparagus

Asparagus varieties are now available for autumn planting, which helps them establish that bit quicker. You do wait for two years before you can cut them - or four in my case because I keep forgetting they are there (and the dog sits on the young shoots).

Peas and pea shoots

For a late spring crop, it's worth trying sowing seeds now. If you sow direct into the ground, plant them one inch deep and relatively closely at about one inch apart, to make up for a higher loss rate. I enjoy the pea shoots too and these grow well in a tunnel all winter.

Garlic

This is the easiest crop to grow. Plant the cloves individually to a depth of 2.5in deep on light soils and a lot less deep on heavy soils one inch below the surface. They will do well in planters too.

Onions, spring onions and shallots

There are quite a few varieties of onions from sets that can go in now. This is the easiest way to grow onions, and they can be harvested earlier on in the year.

Winter lettuce and Lambs lettuce

It is useful in that it does not need high light levels and tolerates low temperatures, and so can be sown up until the end of October outside; it can be picked until December or into the new year with some fleece or milder weather.

Spinach

I pick it younger and just wilt the leaves rather than ruin it with overcooking. The young leaves are great in salads, too. 

Spring cabbage

You can thin early plants for spring greens and leave the rest to heart up. Watch out for pigeons.

Don’t forget the Perennials

You might see some late perennials in gardens at this time of year. They have been waiting patiently to flourish giving us a last burst of colour.

Japanese anemones are always a favourite. Tall and bold, their simple flowers in shades from pink to white really celebrate the season.

Commonly called Ice Plants, the thick fleshy foliage of sedum varieties add interest throughout the year, from the moment it develops in spring. Their flowers come in eye-catching colours from pure white to pink and red, proving as attractive to us as they are bees and butterflies.

As well as flowering plants, don’t forget that many perennials form attractive seed heads too, and these can be enjoyed right through autumn and into winter.

Favourites include cone flowers (Echinacea and Rudbeckia), globe thistle (Echinops), sea holly (Eryngium), agapanthus, ornamental grasses, and bulbs like the Pineapple Lily (Eucomis).

Asters , Michaelmas Daisies  and Verbena  are also favourites.

Net Bags may Not be the Answer

Packaging is big business. 

The tide is turning though for the type of packaging we are familiar with, especially in supermarkets.  It’s now becoming apparent that you don’t need to package anything that has its own packaging, swedes (turnips), bananas coconuts, onions for example will cope quite well on their own without a layer of polythene holding them together.

I thought I’d do my bit highlighting the issue of excess packaging, not by painting a banner and scaring customers in supermarket doorways, but by taking the items to the checkout without a bag.  It was a bit messy I must confess and I did spend quite a while rummaging under shelving looking for onions that rolled from the conveyor belts.

I needed to be proactive so I have been tracking down alternative plastic free packaging for the veggies. You won’t be surprised to learn most vegetables were transported at one time by locally made hessian bags (you can still get some now if you look hard enough) but I wanted to find some pull string organic cotton bags large enough to hold a few pounds of oranges. I sourced a few items, 3 30x40 cm pull bags and a nifty string bag with long handles.

The first issue I have with this type of packaging is that you can’t buy the material or finished item locally. I bought them within a 200 mile radius but the material it was made from came from India, which is a whopping carbon footprint. 

That was the first stumbling block. The second issue I realised is that each bag weighs in at 40g. That’s 40g worth of bag that you are paying for at the checkout above and beyond the cost of the fruit and vegetables every time you shop. I was thinking of making some up to sell (along with the wax wrap cling film replacement) but I think these two flaws in my idea are enough to stop the innovation going mainstream.  I’m currently using the net bags to house my oversized courgettes (1 to a bag) so at least I’m getting my use out of them. I took my eye off the courgettes for just  a week and they grew to marrows.

Less Packaging

The only real answer is for supermarkets and suppliers to do away with packaging and if they must use a wrap, use a biodegradable one than can be thrown on the compost heap instead of needing to be sent away to a recycling centre. Remember “cellophane”?  Originally that was made from hemp, wood or cotton. That’s hopefully making a comeback so I don’t need to take my net bags to the checkout.

I also bought some bamboo and wheat fibre toothbrushes as a way of cutting out a bit more plastic in the house (only manufactured in China at present though – I’m sure we can find an irish alternative such as willow bark)). Along with plastic straws it won’t be long until plastic toothbrushes are a thing of the past.  Unlike the straws though, I doubt they will make toothbrushes out of stainless steel. Whose idea was that to make a straw from a rigid tube of steel?  Paper and wax were ideal and certainly less potential for an accident if you have children.

Red Pepper

I’ve harvested our first red pepper this week. There are a few green ones still on the plant to ripen but this one was glowing so brightly I actually though it was the label poking through the leaves. It went straight into a stir fry with the runner beans which are still producing well. It’s amazed me how sturdy the pepper, chilli and aubergine plants are as the dog has done her best to flatten everything. She fills her time either sitting on plants or digging around the stems so the plants fall over. I’ve found her in the montbretia so many times that she has managed to kill of a large area in the middle of the clump. I’d make a fortune if I could bottle whatever it is that kills them as they are a bit of a pest. I’ll have to make her bed in the nasturtiums to see if that keeps those down too. As we speak she is now sunbathing in the middle of the new perennial border. I had put bamboo sticks in the ground as a deterrent but she ate those first before making her nest.

Securing Soil in Pots and Soil in Ireland Book

Do you think there’s ever a time you need to turn a houseplant in a pot upside down? For some unexplained reason, I think there is and have come up with a solution to the problem you never knew you had.  

Just imagine you need to send a potted plant through the post or if one day when you are dusting (whatever that is) you knock the plant over. Hey presto – no soil on the newly polished woodwork.

It’s quite simple really; all you need is a few small decorative pebbles and a heap of PVA wood glue.  I’ve been experimenting with a few different types of materials and these seem the easiest, cheapest and least harmful ingredients for the plants. Resin doesn’t allow for water to pass through so that’s OK for imitation plants and circular pieces or fabric and card either get too sloppy or curl up at the edges when they dry. 

I tested the mixture out on two small pots which have succulents in them. The larger plant is the cute Senecio Peregrinus which has the leaves shaped like diving dolphins and has a central stem so I kept the small decorative stones away from that in the same way I would keep mulch off a tree trunk. This will give the plant room to grown and keep moisture from sitting on it. I mixed the stones in wood glue prior to laying it out.  After a few hours it’s dry and the pot can be watered in the regular manner. The glue does go a bit tacky for a few minutes but soon dries again. 

There is a reason for this test though as I am thinking of shipping small plants through the post and thought this would keep everything tidy. If the customer doesn’t like the idea the stones can easily be lifted out after watering. I’m going to try upping the sizes of the pots until I reach the maximum size the glue will hold. I’m guessing about a 1 litre will be the largest which is good as I can’t see myself sending out anything larger through the post. In the mean time I’ll have fun having upside down plants on the worktops.

What goes into the plant pots to hold the roots is a very topical issue. There’s a new book on the market called ‘The Soils of Ireland’ which you might be interested in if soil is your thing.  I personally haven’t read a book since ‘Stig of the Dump’ at Primary school but this one does have 178 illustrations which will keep my interest.  

Soils of Ireland

The Environmental Protection Agency and Teagasc support a range of national activities that serve to increase knowledge on our natural environment and our natural resources, and together have launched the Soils of Ireland book which incorporates the latest national science and provides a powerful resource to inform science and policy in relation to the resilience of this critical raw material, our soil.

This publication, which has been supported by the EPA and Teagasc, and prepared by thirty-nine national experts in their respective fields, provides a richly illustrated and comprehensive overview of Irish soils, and includes important discussions and applications of the study of soils and soil management in Ireland.

Editor of The Soils of Ireland, Lilian O’Sullivan, described the utility of the book saying: “This book has been developed as a robust source of current knowledge of Irish soils and represents an important resource for students, educators, advisors, researchers and more, integrating existing knowledge together in one volume.”

The twenty one chapters address the diversity of functional roles of Irish soils in agriculture, nutrient management, water quality, ecosystems, and engineering, as well as addressing the cultural and geographical aspects of soils in our landscape and archaeology.

Our soil is a critical national resource that underpins national agricultural, environmental, ecological and cultural dimensions of our economy and society. Soil is a highly variable and yet fragile skin to our landscape, and in the context of emerging pressures from climate change, urban expansion, and intensification of use, it is essential that we have access to knowledge on soil formation, its properties and its functions in order to provide for its sustainable management into the future.

The book can be bought online and retails at around €100. There’s probably no mention of gluing soil into plant pots though. 

Field Trials- Creeping Thyme and Irish Moss. And Bee Paper

The field trials for my new lawn substitute plants are going well.  I have the whole of my front garden now covered in chamomile plants and not wanting to rest on my laurels I thought I’d diversify into other ground cover plants.

I chose the Irish Moss plants (Sagina Subulata) and the creeping thyme as my next challenge and started building up a collection of plugs a couple of months ago. I found the 3cm – 20  plug trays far too large for the cuttings so have invested in some smaller 1cmx180 square ones. These will be easier to work with especially if I am posting them out.

Irish Moss

The Irish Moss is quite fiddly to divide and I have found that the longer stems don’t take as well but I’d say there’s an 80% success rate in propagating the cuttings.  This plant isn’t Irish and isn’t actually a moss but does make for a great evergreen ground cover for both the lawn and rockery. Like all lawn substitutes it’s best to start off with a small patch to see if the plant suits the location and if you suit the extra work that these types of plants pose. For example my small lawn at the front of the house used to take 2 minutes every fortnight to maintain and cut but now the grass has gone I’m out there every few days on my hands and knees keeping the weeds down. 

Creeping Thyme

The creeping thyme is doing really well with about a 95% success rate for rooting. I did do a batch earlier in the year but what with the heatwave and the fact the plants were in flower meant I failed big time as most of them shrivelled. 

Now the flowers have gone and the temperature has dropped, the small, fine cuttings are concentrating their energy on growing roots.  There are quite a few varieties of creeping thyme but I have propagated the smallest, lowest growing variety on the market. It is the same variety that was used extensively as a lawn in the 18^th/19^th century. Creeping thyme it wasn’t even classed as a ‘lawn substitute’ back then as lawns were only used by people who owned both stately homes and loads of sheep or cows to keep the grass short so Joe public had to wait until the invention of the lawnmower until grass came to them.

I’m going to carry on the field trials and then post some to myself to see if they travel well before releasing them to the public. 

Most thyme plants have the added benefit of being an attraction to bees as their flowers are nectar rich. Something else to attract bees will be appearing on the market in the very near future too, bee paper.

Bee Paper

After a century of rapid industrialisation and unprecedented urban development, bees have to fly much further in search of the plants they need. Long distances exhaust them. This is putting them on the verge of extinction.

That’s why the Warsaw branch of Saatchi & Saatchi and bee charity City Bees  created Bee Saving Paper - an innovative, biodegradable material that can be used for many purposes and works like an energy drink for bees to help them fly further.

Glucose - Energy drink

The paper contains energy-rich glucose that is appetizing for bees for but doesn’t make the paper sticky. This is thanks to a sugar mix, which can be dissolved into water from a food known as “fondant for bees”. This food is used by beekeepers during the winter. There is no need to dissolve large quantities because 0.5 kg of this paste is enough to feed several thousand bees

That’s not all; the paper contains seeds from the honey plant Lacy Phacelia which is one of bees’ favourite plants. 

Why does it work?

Bee Saving Paper is covered with water-based UV paint, with a pattern full of circles visible only to bees. They chose red circles because that mimics what a bee sees in a flower meadow.

These ultraviolet patterns often outline “landing zones” for bees, pointing them towards the parts of plants that contain nectar and pollen. 

Saatchi & Saatchi believes the biodegradable paper is ideal for writing on and could be used to make coffee cup sleeves, tote bags, car-park tickets and picnic plates, giving these disposable items a second life and even making it useful to drop litter.